So, Friday was October 3rd, which, for those of you who are mathematically challenged, left 28 days until Halloween. In an effort to be clever, AND get through my Halloween must-see movies, I decided to watch Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Starring Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris, this story is post-apocalyptic mayhem at its finest. In it, Murphy's character, Jim, awakens from a coma, in a London hospital, only to find the entire city deserted...except for some very violent folks, who, as he learns, are infected by a virus that burns away all of their humanity, and leaves only rage and a tendency, as a character in another great zombie flick would say, to get "a little bitey."

Understandably confused, Jim is fortunate enough to meet Selena, who not only helps save his life, but gives him the lowdown on what the world's been up to while he was sleeping. They go on to find two other live people, Frank, and his teenaged daughter, Hannah, who accompany them on a journey to a city that might, just might hold the key to their salvation...or their doom.

Here's the thing: it's a zombie movie. You know how this works. Live people gather together to defeat hordes of mindless, flesh-eating creatures that might, at one time, have been family, friends, husbands, or wives. Where 28 Days outshines so much of the competition, is by concentrating on the human element, rather than simply grossing us out with the flesh chewing (worry not, though, my fellow horror buffs; there is plenty of that to go around), by the really clever device of having the main character wake up from a coma after the world has already gone to hell in a basket. You really feel his confusion when he wakes up in a hospital, which is scary enough as it is, and finds the world so radically different than what it had been only an instant ago (in his memory). You feel his shock at meeting the first infected, and his sorrow at finding his parents dead of suicide. As you see him continue to have hope even with everything that has happened, you can't help but wonder how you would cope under those circumstances. And that, to me, is its true brilliance. It makes you go through it all on a personal level.

This movie combines great storytelling, spot-on acting, and delicious scares to form one of the best horror movies out there. So, as we draw ever closer to All Hallow's Eve, if you haven't seen this one...or, if you have seen it and, like me, want to fill the next week with the best of the best, make sure this one is in your queue to watch. Just make sure the people around you are safe. It only takes one drop, and then you're in trouble.

Bonus points, by the way, for those who know what movie the "bitey" quote comes from.

Author

Chris Collins is a reader and writer of horror. Anything that sends a shiver crawling up your spine has a home in Harrowscape. He has recently made a deal for his first novel, "The Raggedy Man," due out on shelves in 2017